Men's Track & Field Wins Ninth-Straight Skyhawk Invitational

EASTON, Mass. (April 29, 2017) – The Stonehill College men's track and field program won its home Skyhawk Invitational for the ninth straight year to build confidence heading into the championship season at W.B. Mason Stadium today.

Stonehill totaled 146.50 points for its first place finish as a team, with NE10 rivals Bentley University second (117 points) and Assumption College third (107.50), followed by Division I entry College of the Holy Cross in fourth (83).

Sophomore Stephen Vercollone (Pembroke, Massachusetts/Pembroke) highlighted the performances for Stonehill with his first place finish in the 800-meter run in a school-record and NCAA provisional qualifying time of 1:51.65. In addition to provisionally qualifying for next month's NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Bradenton, Florida, with the 22nd-ranked time in Division II this season to date, Vercollone also broke the previous school mark of 1:51.78 set by former All-American Patrick Cooney '15 at the 2014 New England Championships.

Vercollone led eight Stonehill runners out of the 34 total entries in the 800-meters, with four finishing in the top ten. Sophomore David Lockhart (Stoughton, Massachusetts/Stoughton) finished fifth in a personal-best 1:54.63, while senior Duncan Burleigh (Hingham, Massachusetts/Hingham) was sixth in 1:55.05 and junior Jason Dimmick (Sutton, Massachusetts/Sutton) placed ninth in 1:56.59.

Sophomore Riley Dowd (Peabody, Massachusetts/Peabody Veterans Memorial) led a Stonehill sweep of the top five positions in the 1500-meter run with his first place finish in a personal-best time of 3:54.86. Classmate Alexander Demeule (Merrimac, Massachusetts/Pentucket Regional) finished second in the field of 28 runners in a personal-best 3:56.16, while junior James Murphy (Mansfield, Massachusetts/Mansfield) was third in a personal-best 3:57.48. Rounding out the top five were senior Joe Santo (Newburyport, Massachusetts/Newburyport) in fourth at a personal-best 3:57.58 and sophomore Christopher Drace (Franklin, New Jersey/Pope John XXIII) in fifth at a personal-record time of 3:58.17.

Dowd led a Stonehill sweep of the top five in the 1500 with a personal-best time. (PHOTO BY Kayleigh Lepage)

Junior Anthony Innamorati (Clinton, Massachusetts/Clinton) won the pole vault in a jump off with Boston University senior Brian Shaefer. Innamorati cleared 14-feet, 7.25-inches after both were even after 14-5.25.

Juniors Joshua Hubbell (Gloucester, Massachusetts/St. John's Prep) and Mark Hamalian (West Bridgewater, Massachusetts/Bridgewater-Raynham) placed second and third, respectively, out of 13 entries in the long jump. Hubbell cleared a personal-best distance of 22-feet, 6.25-inches, while Hamalian followed at a personal-best 22-4.50. Hubbell also finished fifth out of 19 entries in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.73-seconds.

Hubbell ran a leg on Stonehill's 4x100-meter relay team that finished second in 43.28-seconds. Sophomore Joe Connolly (Wilmington, Massachusetts/Austin Prep) ran the lead leg, followed by Hubbell and then freshman Atiba McLaren (Pittsford, New York/McQuaid Jesuit) and then senior All-American Matt Baldasare (Mansfield, Massachusetts/Mansfield) completed the anchor leg.

Baldasare, Hubbell and McLaren also competed on Stonehill's 4x400-meter relay that ran second in 3:28.79. Sophomore Daniel Madsen (West Haven, Connecticut/Notre Dame-West Haven) followed Baldasare and Hubbell to run the third leg, with McLaren running the anchor leg. McLaren also finished second out of nine entries in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 56.49-seconds, while Madsen placed eighth out of 18 runners in the 400-meter dash with his time of 51.50-seconds.

Junior Stefan Balestra (Lincoln, Rhode Island/Lincoln) placed second out of ten entries in the hammer throw with a distance of 162-feet, 10-inches. He also finished 11th in the discus throw with a distance of 101-feet, 11-inches.

Hubbell posted a personal-best in the long jump and also competed in the 200m and relays. (PHOTO BY Kayleigh Lepage)

Other Stonehill Highlights Include:

Junior Jonathan Naval (Stratford, Connecticut/Bunnell) placed third out of ten entries in the triple jump as he cleared a personal-best distance of 44-feet, 11.75-inches.

Junior Jordan Sullivan (Sound Beach, New York/Miller Place) finished third in the high jump as he cleared 5-feet, 11.25-inches.

Sophomore Darren Shi (Yarmouth, Massachusetts/Yarmouth) placed fourth out of 12 entries in the shot put with a personal-best distance of 44-feet, 9.75-inches.

Freshman Chris Gendron (Lowell, Massachusetts/Lowell) finished fifth out of 12 runners in the 5000-meter run with his personal-best time of 16:33.57.

Freshman Collin Kuchachik (Orange, Connecticut/Amity Regional) placed fifth in the 110-meter high hurdles in a personal-best time of 16.04-seconds.

Stonehill is back in action next weekend when it hosts the Northeast-10 Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships at W.B. Mason Stadium Friday and Saturday, May 5-6. Friday's schedule gets underway with the heptathlon and decathlon starting at 10:30 a.m., field events at 2 p.m., and then the track events at 3:30 p.m.